“Our tax code barely reflects the 21st-century world. Instead vast changes have been accommodated by piecemeal patches and tweaks and an ever-growing list of tax breaks and loopholes that now total $1 trillion a year.

One trillion dollars! Consider two of the largest deductions for businesses’ health care expenses and home mortgage interest. A proper discussion would start with them. Employers’ health care insurance for employees is a cornerstone of the new health care plan. Is that the best way to encourage business to continue to protect employees? Should we address the mortgage interest deduction, debt and the housing bubble we still haven’t escaped?

In our global economy, shouldn’t we consider the value-added tax already in place in virtually every other industrialized nation? How many more companies must move their operations overseas to escape our 35 percent corporate tax rate before we alter that tax strategy.”